"Don't move," he said.
Paula was hugging a tree beside him. She nodded to him to do as Webber said.
"They have very powerful scanners." She pointed with her chin. "Look. They've learned."
The harsh warning barks of the men sounded faintly, then were hushed. Nothing moved, except by the natural motion of the wind. The people crouched among the trees, so still that Kieran would not have seen them if he had not known they were there.
The patrol craft roared past, cranking up speed as it went. Webber grinned. "They'll be a couple of hours at least, overhauling and examining the flitter. By that time it'll be dark, and by morning we'll be in the mountains."
The people were already moving. They headed upstream, going at a steady, shuffling trot. Three of the women, Kieran noticed, had babies in their arms. The older children ran beside their mothers. Two of the men and several of the women were white-haired. They ran also.
"Do you like to see them run?" asked Paula, with a sharp note of passion in her voice. "Does it look good to you?"
"No," said Kieran, frowning. He looked in the direction in which the sound of the patrol craft was vanishing.
"Move along," Webber said. "They'll leave us far enough behind as it is."